This is a blog about the use of emerging technologies to boost the governance of public procurement. It used to be a blog on EU law, with a focus on free movement, public procurement and competition law issues (thus the long archive of entries about those topics). I use it to publish my thoughts and to test some ideas. All comments are personal and in no way bind any of the institutions to which I am affiliated and, particularly, the University of Bristol Law School. I hope to spur discussion and look forward to your feedback and participation.

The US Government Accountability Office has published an interesting report on the use of urgency contracting by the Departments of Defense (DOD) and State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the period 2010-2012. The report is interesting in that it shows the relevance of having accurate data in order to carry out oversight efforts such as this one (in their research, they had access to rather poor and incorrect data) and, more importantly, because it clearly points out certain implementation problems that are similar to the ones that can be expected under the EU rules--and, looking at the future, under art 32(2)(c) of Directive 2014/24. It is interesting to read it ahead of its (re)transposition.